I Got Engaged To The Blind Duke - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I Got Engaged to a Blind Duke Episode 1

Prologue

In the office shrouded in silence, Duke Vines quietly set down his teacup.

At this, Marine’s shoulders flinched as she stared blankly at his teacup.

Marine picked up her teacup with an awkward smile hanging on her lips, opposite to Duke Vines.

The subtle fragrance of tea leaves lingered around her nose.

This was her first tea time with Duke Vines, who was her superior’s superior, so she felt nervous and awkward. Even now, she couldn’t fathom why he had arranged this meeting.

“How is life at the Duke’s Castle?”

“Thanks to Your Grace’s great consideration, I’m living very comfortably. I’m always grateful.”

Marine spoke with sincere feeling.

“You like living here?”

The Duke asked again as if seeking confirmation.

“Yes. I like it very much.”

Although the Duke couldn’t see her, Marine nodded vigorously.

A warm bed, abundant food, and even generous wages on top of that.

The Duke’s Castle was the best!

“Then let’s get engaged.”

“I’m sorry, what did you say?”

Her voice cracked at the end from being so shocked.

“Is your hearing bad?”

Duke Vines, with his eyes covered by black silk, asked in a dry voice.

“No. It’s not that…”

Marine trailed off with a dumbfounded expression. Did she hear that correctly just now?

“Let’s get engaged.”

“Yes, that word… *hic*”

Marine hurriedly covered her mouth and glanced at Duke Vines.

The Duke maintained his expressionless face, whether he was pretending not to hear or really didn’t hear.

What does liking to live at the Duke’s Castle have to do with engagement?

Does it make sense because he’s telling me to keep living here?

Marine quickly shook her head and escaped from useless thoughts.

Dangerous.

Her instincts were warning her.

Marine quietly pulled her chair back and stood up to escape from this place.

“Your Grace, I think my hearing really is bad after all. I think I need to see the Duke’s Castle physician, so I’ll take my leave…”

“Sit down.”

“Yes.”

At the Duke’s command, she obediently sat back down like a well-behaved puppy.

Duke Vines, whose eyes had become unable to see due to a monster attack, was extremely sensitive to sounds.

He reacted very sharply to even small noises, so when moving in front of him, she tried her best not to make any sound. When speaking to the Duke, she had to speak in a very faint voice.

She heard he wasn’t like this before his eye injury, but since she had never met Duke Vines from that time, she wouldn’t know.

“Shall we return to the main topic?”

“Yes.”

Marine answered spiritedly like a disciplined new recruit.

“Very short answer. Did you understand what I said?”

The Duke slowly stroked the corner of his mouth with his long fingers.

“Yesss.”

Of course, being highly perceptive, she understood his words immediately.

“Short is better. And naturally, if possible.”

The Duke covering his lips with his hand seemed like he was hiding a smile, but she was probably seeing things due to being too nervous.

“Yes.”

When the boss says jump, you jump.

Marine carefully gave an ordinary answer and fidgeted with her fingers.

The office became quiet again.

Marine couldn’t even guess Duke Vines’ intentions, so she willingly accepted that silence.

“What do you want?”

He suddenly broke the silence.

“I don’t understand what you mean…”

“Lady Marine Schwentz.”

Marine’s face turned pale in an instant, and she momentarily stopped breathing. Her fidgeting fingers also froze.

“When you hid your noble status and came to work at the Duke’s Castle, you must have wanted something, right?”

“How, how did you… *hic*”

Marine couldn’t stop hiccupping and completely covered her mouth with her hand. She could feel her heart plummeting to the floor in real time.

Duke Vines leaned back loosely in his chair and opened his red lips.

“If you believed you could so easily deceive the House of Vines, should I call that naive?”

Marine quickly racked her brain with shaking eyes.

All her lies had been exposed.

The House of Vines was the Empire’s foremost noble family.

She had deceived that ducal house.

A terrible future of being immediately dragged to prison, tortured, and killed flashed through her mind.

How can I get out of here alive?

Marine trembled like a rain-soaked kitten while watching Duke Vines’ reaction. She couldn’t fathom the expressionless Duke’s inner thoughts at all.

“I’m sorry. I was wrong. I needed money…”

First, she had to apologize for deceiving him.

Duke Vines’ poker face felt especially cold today.

“The reason you infiltrated the ducal house was money?”

His head tilted slightly toward her as if trying to read her reaction.

“…It wasn’t infiltration, it was employment.”

Marine timidly but firmly denied it with trembling lips.

Even if your mouth is crooked, speak straight, they say.

Her life and death hung on Duke Vines’ every word. That’s why she had to tell the truth even more.

“You stayed by my side also because of money?”

“…I didn’t stay by your side, I assisted you.”

Marine corrected the facts again with a voice tinged with injustice.

“You whispered beside me also because of money?”

“…The whispering was because you dislike loud noises, Your Grace.”

This part was really unreasonable nonsense, so her voice rose slightly, very faintly.

The corner of Duke Vines’ mouth went up minutely for a moment.

However, Marine was too busy correcting the Duke’s misunderstanding to notice.

“So all of that was because of money?”

“Yes.”

“Then how much would it take?”

“…What do you mean?”

Marine gazed at Duke Vines with light green eyes filled with tears from frustration at the Duke who kept misunderstanding.

“I told you earlier. Let’s get engaged. How much would it take for you to agree to a contract engagement?”

“Whaaaat?”

Her voice rose to an impossibly high pitch without her realizing it. The tears that had been dangling from her eyes instantly disappeared.

“Keep it short.”

She could see the wrinkles forming clearly between his brows.

Marine quickly lowered her voice.

“I’m too foolish to understand Your Grace’s words?”

Marine looked at him with confused eyes. Her mind was completely scattered from being lifted up and dropped, lifted up and dropped.

She thought he was angry because she had deceived him about her identity to get employed at the Ducal House, but suddenly it was about engagement again?

“Didn’t you say you liked living at Duke’s Castle? Congratulations. You’ll be able to continue staying in your favorite place.”

“Actually, now that I think about it, it doesn’t seem that great after all…”

Marine trailed off while sneaking a glance at the expressionless Duke.

“Really? Hmm, if you deceive the Ducal House, where would you go…”

As soon as she heard the Duke leisurely muttering, Marine interrupted him for the first time.

“But! Duke’s Castle is the best, Your Grace! Did I mention before? That I want to be buried in this beautiful and wonderful ducal family?”

Although he couldn’t see her, Marine smiled as brightly as she could.

You can’t spit on a smiling face, after all.

“No, I didn’t hear that.”

The corner of the Duke’s lips clearly turned up this time.

It was a smile rarely seen from him, but Marine found that smile even more frightening.

Marine frantically licked her lips and racked her brain.

“Oh my, I thought I had already said it. That I would serve Your Grace wholeheartedly until I’m buried in this place…”

“I don’t need bones, I want a fiancée.”

Duke Vines declared firmly.

“By any chance, do I have the right to refuse?”

Marine asked very carefully with trembling eyes.

Please let there be one. Please.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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